American-educated Saudi technocrats: Agents of social change?

摘要

The hypothesis of this dissertation is that the Saudi technocrats have the capability to institute social change, but they do not have the opportunity or the will to do so.; The literature on this topic has not yet been renewed and we only have an account of the position of technocrats in the 1970s and 1980s. The late nineties is a challenging period for the Saudi regime because it has to deal with the decreasing oil revenues, the mounting debt and the rapidity of social evolution in a country that attempted to modernize economically, while preserving a traditional social and political structure. If the literature of the 1970s and 1980s relates to the position of the technocrats at the apex of power, little has been written on the position of technocrats in Saudi Arabia today. It will therefore be important to treat this period of transition with scrutiny, examining the social potential of these technocrats, evaluating their strengths and considering them as the harbingers of cultural change. Are the American educated Saudi technocrats the cultural leaders of Saudi Arabia today? Can they play an important role in introducing cultural change compatible with modern technology?; Upon repatriation, what is the socio-cultural comportment of these technocrats? What do they accomplish and how do they integrate in a traditional milieu? What are their functions in a society that assumes that you can live in a modern world and maintain your culture (i.e. Islamic practice)? It therefore becomes important to examine the technocrats more closely as a potential force in the socio-political future of Saudi Arabia. It appears that the government needs their technical expertise, encourages their economic activity and yet the government discourages any effort on their part to effect cultural change. How can they lead reform in a static context? Moreover, the US educated Saudi is dealing with an identity crisis. He sometimes rejects the Western ideas that had been introduced to him, for fear of being alienated in his own society. External and personal obstacles will be studied in order to better understand the little contribution these technocrats have made to the development of their country in the 1990s. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)